Choice
by LunaEvanna Longbottom
Summary: What happened when Kathryn figures out little Bay isn't her daughter? What will happen once they figure out Daphne's deaf and that Regina doesn't want her? What will become of Emmett? What will happen when Daphne start asking questions about the odd woman in her dreams?
1. Doubts about the Bay

**What if Kathryn found out about the switch and they wanted to get Daphne back? What if Regina had been a wreck when Angelo left and doesn't think she can care for her baby? These are a lot of what ifs.**

**K P.O.V**

I just couldn't stop staring at my little Bay, I stroked the thick dark brown hair on her head and watched her small chest go up and down as she let out breath after breath. I was positive that this beautiful little girl was not mine.

Since we left the hospital three years ago I had had doubts that Bay was my child, now I was certain. Bay had thick, curly, dark brown and deep dark brown eyes. Me nor my husband John had either of those and my suspicions were only confirmed when we went to the hospital this afternoon.

I had went to get some shots and while the doctor was taking them Bay was reading my information on the screen, she asked me what a blood type was, I told her and then she asked what her blood type was and I told her I didn't know. She wanted to know so I asked the doctor if she could take a test (which did not go over well with Bay) and it showed that Bay's blood type was AB which is impossible since John and my blood type are A and O. I had her retake the test (Which Bay tried to object to), but it came back the same.

I really wanted to tell John but at the same time I didn't. What if he wants to get our biological daughter back and then Bay's biological family take her? Then we'd be taking two 3 year old girls out of the only place they've called home. But what if my bio-baby isn't with a good family? What if they're neglecting or hurting her? I wanted so badly to meet my bio-baby what did I want to do it if it meant losing Bay?

"Honey, I'm home!" I hear my husband yell from the living room right as I hear the door close. Thank goodness he's home, I've decided to tell him, it wouldn't be right if I didn't.

* * *

"So let me get this straight." John said as I sit on our bed in front of him. I had just told him everything, about Bay's blood test, about how I though she wasn't our, about everything. "You think our daughter was switched at the hospital and instead of coming home with our baby we brought home someone else's baby because Bay has brown hair?"

"No." I sighed. "I think our real baby was switched with Bay because of the blood test. John, she her blood type is AB positive, if she was our child she would have either A or O." He sighed and got off of the bed.

"I can't believe you're doing this Kathryn!" He said. "Ever since we came home from the hospital you've been looking at Bay like there's something wrong with her and that was over 3 years ago!"

"Don't." I said. "Sure I've expressed my thoughts about Bay. I was confused, she doesn't look like either of us and I know you've noticed it too! I will leave everything and anything I found alone if you can look me in the eye and tell me you haven't had your doubts about Bay being yours."

I looked him in the eye on the verge of crying and waited for him to to say the words I wished he would say, but he couldn't so he didn't. Instead he pulled me into his arms and I cried, I cried for myself, for Bay, for our bio-baby and the fact that we both knew that Bay wasn't ours.

"I'm sorry." He said kissing my head. "I know that you're right I just don't want you to be, we've raised that little girl in that pink princess room for three years and I just..."

"I know." I sniffed. "The question is what are we going to do about it?" I said looking up at him. "We could ignore it and let both of the little girls live a life that isn't theirs or we could look for our biological daughter, knowing at the same time that there is a chance we could lose Bay."

"Decisions, decisions."

**How's you like it? I would love for you all to review!**

**LunaEvanna **


	2. She's Your Daughter

**K P.O.V**

John and I had made our decision about what we were going to do. We decided to hire a private investigator to figure out what happened to our bio-baby. Bay and Toby were at a play-date we had scheduled while we were here at a Genetic Research facility. We had gotten another DNA sample from Bay and compared it with ours, now we were just waiting for the doctor to tell us the truth.

"We've done extensive 12 marker testing on your daughters DNA and you..." She sighed and looked up to look in our eyes. "It's 99.9% certain that Bay is not biologically yours." I let out a shaky breath and tilt my head up to keep the tears in while John grabs my hand. We had waited 4 weeks to find out if Bay was ours or not and this was not the answer we wanted and even though it was the answer we expected doesn't make it any easier. "The hospital believes there was a mix up..."

"_A mix up_?" I asked looking at her. These were children we were talking about, it wasn't as if someone had given me the wrong clothes at the dry cleaners, they had given me the wrong baby.

"Someone wasn't careful matching the I.D anklets. It's extremely rare, but at a busy hospital..." She pauses and I just want to yell at her to get on with it. "You took home someone else's baby and they took home yours." I could feel all the blood draining out of my face and I can't even bring myself to look at John.**  
**

"We're focused on 1 particular girl who was also born on October 22, 1995 at North Austin Medical. They're in the process of locating the family right now."

"So what are we supposed to do?" John asked and I can hear anger tinting his voice. "Just switch the girls back and pretend it never happened? We have a 5 year old son at home who thinks that the girl he's playing with is his little sister."

"Honestly?" She asked. "In cases like these there are never any road maps."

* * *

"What are we supposed to do John?" I asked as I paced the room. It had been a week since we had been at the research lab and they still haven't found them."

Bay and Toby were in the living room watching Blues Clues and John and I were in the kitchen trying to figure out what to do.

"We have to be patient." He said pulling me to him. "How am I supposed to be patient when I know that my biological child is out there and we have no idea if she's cold, or hungry o-o-or hurting?"

"There's still something we need to figure out." John said. "When they find this couple and our child they could decide that they want Bay back." But I shook my head.

"I'm not giving up Bay." I told him. "We have raised the little girl in the Dora pajamas for the past three years. I don't want to lose Bay, I just want..."

"You want them both." He finished. "Honey our baby's parents may be the best thing in her life or maybe they're the worst things in her life. Maybe we can get custody of our baby and still keep Bay, but if we can't you're going to have to live with the fact that you're going to have to choose one over the other."

I sighed and just as I was about to answer him the phone rang. I walked over to the island and picked up the phone. I accepted the call and then put it to my ear. "Hello?"

"Hi, this is Angela from the Genetic Research la-" I could feel my eyes go wide before looking at John.

"It's them!" I whisper yelled at him, ushering him over. He hurriedly got up from his chair and came to me and I positioned the phone so we could both hear.

"-We wanted to let you know we've located your biological daughter." I covered my mouth so I didn't let any noise out. "She and her mother will be coming to the center today at 3:00 PM to speak with us about everything. Will you be there?"

"Yes, yes we'll be there." John answered. "Is there anyway you can tell us her name? Our daughters, I mean." I heard her sigh.

"I'm not supposed to do this, so don't tell anyone. Her name is Daphne Vasquez." She said in a whisper before hanging up. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and put the phone down.

"Daphne." John said quietly. "Our daughters name is Daphne." I smile at him and take his hand before looking down at it and noticing the time on John's watch.

"John what time did she say the meet was?" I asked.

"I think she said 3." The time on John's watch said it was 1:45 and it was a half hour drive to the center.

"We need to start getting ready." I said letting go of his hand. I go to walk out of the kitchen only to come back. "We're taking Toby and Bay right?"

"Yes." He answered. "It's not going to be any easier if we just bring Daphne and her mot-" He stopped and looked down. I knew what he was thinking, I was Daphne's mother and he didn't know what to call the woman who raised her for three years.

"You can say it." I told him as I walked over and wrapped my arms around his waist. "Legally she is Daphne's mother and legally I'm Bay's mother." He wrapped his arms around me.

"What are we going to do?" He asked. "What if she doesn't let s stay in contact with Daphne?" He asked. "What if she doesn't want anything to do with Bay?-" I stopped him.

"Why don't you just ask what I know you're trying to?" He sighed.

"What if she doesn't like me?" He asked. "What if I don't like her?" I let out a laugh.

"She's three John." I said taking his face in my hands. "And you are her real father. Bay loves you more than anything and Toby thinks you're the smartest, strongest dad in the world. There is no doubt that Daphne won't like you." He smiled and kissed me. I smacked his cheek before walking away. "Now you need to go get Toby dressed, because I'm taking care of Bay and I don't want them to look like hobo's when they met their sister."

I stopped. _Their_ sister, as in Toby _and_ Bay's sister. I was pretty sure I liked that.

* * *

After ten minutes I had Bay washed, dried and dressed in her favorite blue dress and stockings with her shoe's from her Cinderella costume (We made a deal, she got the shoes and I got no tantrums for the who day.). It tool John an extra twenty minutes to have Toby dressed in his slacks and Elmo shirt (I bribed him with ice cream.) and then we were in the car.

Except for the sound of Toby and Bay singing along to Old McDonald had a Farm there was no talking except every ten minutes when Toby would ask if we were there and Bay would yell at me to look at something out of the window.

We made it there twenty minutes late, but we were okay because Daphne and her mot- her guardian were not here yet. We had packed Bay and Toby a few toys and some snacks (And some for Daphne) so we let them sit at the small table by the window to eat. I was pretty sure I saw Toby throw a few carrot stick out of the window, but I was too nervous to reprimand him and John was no better.

Finally six minutes later the door opened. We stood up as a little strawberry blonde haired girl wearing a pink floral skirt and a purple sweater walked in holding hands with a very tired looking Latino woman who was clutching her purse like a life line.

After Daphne and her mot- guardian came in Dr. Angela walked in too.

"Mr. and Mrs. Kennish." She said. "This is Regina and Daphne Vasquez." John held his hand out to Regina.

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Vasquez." He said subtly trying to ask where Mr. Vasquez was. She didn't take his hand, instead she pulled her purse closer to her. What?

"Regina." She said catching onto what he was doing. I looked down at Daphne and smiled. She was just standing there holding Regina's hand and looking lost.

"Hi." I said in what I hoped was a friendly voice. "I'm Kathryn." I said, but she looked even more confused. I looked back at Regina.

"She's deaf." She said as if was no big deal.

"What?!" John and I asked. "How?"

"She got meningitis a few months back and she lost her hearing." Regina told us. Dr. Angela got a small dry erase board from her desk and bent down to Daphne's level. She wrote something down on it and showed it do Daphne, she looked at it for a moment before waving at us and hiding behind Regina's legs.

"She's a very shy girl." Regina says. "Even more so since she lost her hearing."

"How do you talk to her?" I asked.

"My mother is teaching her how to write and read." She responded. "Plus she has hearing aids so she can hear louder sounds."

"Bay, Toby, c'mere." I said to the troubling duo who were coloring on some paper. They dropped their markers and crayons immediately before running over to us. John picked Toby up and Bay just stood in front of me looking at the small girl in front of her. "Can I have the board?" I asked Dr. Angela. She nodded and handed me the board and marker and I bent down to Bay.

"What's this?" She asked seeing the marker. Bay loved art, color, sparkles anything. Once she took my face cream and used it to make a picture of a cat on her room wall.

"This is how we talk to Daphne." I told her. "Would you like to say something to her?" She nodded and took the marker. She carefully wrote the words 'Do you like Apples?' (It took her a few minutes to figure out how to spell Apples) before showing it to Daphne. Daphne read it, moving her lips trying to pronounce the words she couldn't understand before erasing it and writing something else.

'With peanut butter?' She wrote. Bay nodded and then so did Daphne. I guess they spoke a language only kids new because they just walked over to the table and began sharing the apple slices we packed for Bay.

"I wanna get down." Toby told John. He nodded before sitting him on the floor and Toby ran to the girls.

"That was a lot easier than I thought it would be." I said looking at Regina and the doctor who shifted uncomfortably. I wonder what was wrong.

"I think I'll leave you guys now." Regina said surprising me. She and Daphne had just got here. I was about to protest when I realized she was moving towards the door...without Daphne.

"Where are you going?" I asked. She turned around to look at us.

"I'm going home." She said as if it was the obvious answer.

"Without Daphne?" John asked. Regina looked at the doctor.

"I thought you talked to them." She said. What was going on? I looked at John and saw the same expression on his face that I could feel on mine.

"I felt it would be better if you told them yourself."

"Tell us what?" I asked loudly. From the corner of my eye I saw the children look at us and I did not want them in the middle of the screaming match I was sure my talk with Regina wild turn into, so I took her arm and went outside of the room with her closing the door behind us. Now it was just us and an empty hallway.

"Well?" I asked. She sighed.

"I came here to drop her off."Regina said before trying to walk away, but I was not having that.

"Drop who off?" Although I already knew the answer.

"_Your_ daughter." She said.

"So what?" I asked as she began to walk away. "You're going to just abandon her here with four strangers she doesn't know?" Sure it hurt to acknowledge that I was a stranger to my daughter, but she needed to realize what she was doing.

"You don't understand." She said. "I don't have all the money you do. I have a house that's in shambles, a sick mother and a salon career that's going nowhere. I can't take care of a girl who's not even mine."

"What about Bay?" I asked. "She's your biological daughter." Regina shook her head.

"She's your daughter. I wouldn't and can't be a mother to a child who belongs to someones else. I'm sorry." She said before opening the door to the stairwell and going through it.

I angrily wipe a few stray tears from my face and let out a breath. How could she do that to Daphne? I'm not going to lie, I wanted Daphne to be apart of my family, but I didn't want her to lose her old one. How was I going to explain to a deaf three year old that her mom didn't want her?  
Then I knew that that was a giant lie. _I_ was her mother. _I_ wanted her and _I_ was going to make sure that she has the best life possible.

* * *

After collecting myself, I went back into the room and sent a smile at Dr. Angela. She knew what had happened and she wasn't going to question me.

"Where's Regina?" John asked quietly.

"We'll talk about it at home." I told him as I walked back to the kids. Daphne saw me coming and started writing something on the board before showing it to me.

_'Where's my mommy?'_ She wrote. I sighed and took the board from her, how to word this?

_'How would you like to have a sleep over with Bay and Toby?' _


	3. Boozy Divorcee

**Okay, FYI: The only reason Regina is a mess in my story is because she has yet to get help. When Daphne and Bay were 3 Regina had not been talking to her mother so she didn't have her life together. She was still a drunk. Daphne didn't meet Emmett until she was around 8 so she hadn't cleaned up her act or helped Daphne learned sign language, but not to worry, she'll clean up her act eventually.**

* * *

**K P.O.V**

Thankfully Daphne did not have a tantrum or put up a fight when we told her she would be staying with us, but I'm sure the smart little 3 year old noticed I didn't tell her when her mother was coming back because she kept asking for her.

When we got home we ordered pizza and let the kids watch a movie and John put the subtitles on for Daphne. After they had fallen asleep in the fort they had made, we turned off the movie and left a few lights on before going back to our room.

"So she just left?" John asked as we got ready for bed.

"She said that she couldn't raise a little girl who wasn't hers." I told him.

"What about Bay?" He asked. "Didn't she at least want to get a chance to know her?" I shrugged.

"She said that Bay was mine." I told him as I put lotion on my arms. "What do you think Daphne's father said when Regina came back with no kid?"

"I have no idea." He said. "That is if her father was even in the picture." He sighed as he got under the covers. "What are we going to tell her?" He asked. "When she realizes her mother's not coming back to take her home?"

"We're gonna tell her the truth." I said. "To certain extent, put it in a way she'll be able to understand."

"But what if Regina comes back and decides she wants Daphne back?"

"I actually thought of that." I told him as I got into the bed and leaned on him. "I'm going to find out where Regina lives and talk to her about taking Daphne back." This caught his attention.

"What?" John asked sitting up. "All you've been talking about since we found out about the switch is raising you daughters, both of them and now that you have that you wanna give it back?"

"I'm thinking about Daphne." I said. "I want to make sure that there isn't someone from her life with Regina that's going to come fighting for custody of her or Bay. I want to make sure that if there is, there's a chance that Daphne can still be with us and still have a familiar face to comfort her when things get tough.

"I want to raise Bay and Daphne together as sisters, I do, but we have to think about what's best for them. What's best for Bay, what's best for Daphne and what's best for Toby. Daphne is a deaf 3 year old who was just left with 4 people she doesn't know by the one woman who is supposed to love her more than anything. We have to make sure that as soon as we start loving her and she starts loving us that she's not ripped away from us. I couldn't survive losing a daughter John, even if I didn't know her."

"Oh honey." John said pulling her to him. I hadn't even realized I was crying until the tears were wiped away by his shirt. "We're not going to lose them." He said confidently. "We are not going to lose them. We are going to raise them both in this house with a mother and father who love them and an older brother who'd do anything to protect them."

But he didn't know that, he didn't know that everything was going to be okay. Everything could be fine tomorrow and then worst than anything we could've imagined the next day, but I was going to make sure everything would be okay. I would protect my family no matter what.

* * *

The next morning I didn't wake until 5 PM and that was only because Toby woke me up because the girls were awake and they were hungry. I realized that someone had unplugged my alarm clock so I wouldn't wake up, I mentally wondered how they hadn't woken me up earlier. I made them all some lunch and put them on a sheet in the living room after helping them take apart the fort and let them watch Dora, again putting the captions on for Daphne.

After I was done with them I went back in John and my's room and took a shower before getting dressed and doing my hair so I could be on my way to see Regina (Who apparently drilled her home address into Daphne).

"John wake up." I said while trying to push him and put on my earring at the same time.

"Huh?" He snorted as he woke up. "Why are you up?"

"I need you to watch the kids." I said walking over to my jewelry box to put on my other earring. "I'm about to leave and they need to be watched." John was suddenly awake, it was like someone threw a bucket of cold ice water on him.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked. I smiled at his concern.

"I don't want to do this, but I have to for the girls, but more for Regina's sake." I said walking over to him. "Because if she comes back saying she wants her daughter, be it Daphne or Bay, I will kill her."

"Well momma bear." He said pulling me to him. "I haven't seen you since the incident at the grocery store." That had been what seemed like months ago but was only really two weeks ago. Bay and Toby had been with me while I went grocery shopping and Toby had been getting a little cranky so I bought him a cupcake from the bakery. In the end he ended up throwing up all over some blonde trust fund baby and she yelled at him. That was the day I put a momma bear to shame, I'm pretty sure someone posted a video of that on Youtube.

"Well momma bear has to leave now and you can't have a goodbye kiss because you haven't brushed your teeth." I teased patting him on the shoulder and moving out of his reach.

"My morning breath is not that bad." He complained.

"It smells like a dead fish died in your shoes on a hot summer day in Texas." I shot back before picking up my purse and leaving the room. I went back into the living room where the kids all sat watching Bob the Builder.

"Bye babies." I said kissing their heads. "Mommy loves you."

"Bye mommy!" Bay and Toby yelled, but Daphne just stared not hearing what I said, but feeling the kiss I placed on her head. I waved at her and she waved back before going back to her cereal and Bob. I smiled before leaving the house and going to my car.

* * *

When I got to Regina's house I was a little afraid to get out of the car to be honest. I wasn't sure if I should've gotten out or driven back home and hoping for the best, but in the end I got out of the car locking it behind me. I opened the gate and went up the cracked walk way and the few steps before knocking on the door, but nobody came.

I knocked a few more times and waited a few more minutes but still nobody answered. I went back to my car and got inside. Did I want to wait here for her or did I want to go home and forget why I came here? The second option felt so tempting, but not only for the obvious reason. There was also the fact that if I stayed here in front of her house I'd look like a stalker.

In the end I decided to go home and come back tomorrow.

On my way out of the neighborhood I saw someone walking down the street. It only took me a few seconds to realize it was Regina wearing the same clothes from yesterday. I quickly pulled over and got out of my car. It took me a few moments to get the key out of the ignition because of how frantically I was moving, but I did. I quickly got out of my car and quickly made after Regina.

"Regina!" I called after her, she turned and saw me but just walked faster. "Regina I know you can here me." She kept walking. "Regina either you talk to me or I'll call the cops and have you arrested for reckless abandonment." She abruptly stopped walking and turned around towards me. I didn't expect that to work, but to be fair I didn't have any intentions of calling the police. I quickly made my way to her.

"What do you want Kathryn?" She asked holding her bag again.

"We need to talk." I told her simply. I realized I sounded like we were in a relationship. I quickly tossed that thought out of my mind.

"We don't have anything to talk about." She said.

"You can't just leave your kid with someone and expect them not to ask questions." She narrowed her eyes and clutched her purse again. "And what is with that? You keep clutching your purse like the only thing keeping you alive is inside of it."

"That's none of your business." She snapped about to turn away from me, but she wasn't about to walk away from me again. I grabbed her bag causing her to turn back around, she started pulling back but I was stronger. I ripped the bag out of her hands and she looked dejected. I opened her bag and looked inside to see a half empty bottle of Vodka.

"This is what's in your purse?" I asked looking back at her and then I realized something. "You came to that meeting with a bottle of alcohol in your purse?"

"Go to hell." She growled.

"What?" I asked. "Were you taking swigs of it on the ride there and back to your house? What the hell is wrong with you? There was a child in the car!"

"I don't understand you Kathryn." She said. "I know how people like you are. You should be jumping for joy knowing that you'll get to raise your biological daughter and not lose your legal one." Was I really that transparent?

"You're right." I agreed. "When I found out the switch I knew then and there that I wanted both of my daughters." She threw her hands up weakly.

"So why are you here?"

"Honestly?" I asked. "Because I want to make sure that you or Daphne's legal father don't come knocking on my door wanting custody of her or Bay."

"I can assure you that won't happen." I shook my head.

"I'm positive you understand why I can't take your word for it." I said. "You're a drunk! Why should I believe anything you have to say?"

"Because Daphne's father is in Italy." She told me. "He served me with divorce paper when he realized Daphne wasn't his. He thought I cheated on him." She laughed humorlessly. "So he won't be coming for Daphne anytime soon and neither will anyone else." I tossed her bag bag to her and she caught it. It was taking everything I had not to throw that bottle at her head. She was abandoning the little girl who thought of her as mommy.

"Don't come near Daphne or Bay." I told her. "Don't come near any of my family or you will regret it." I looked her up and down. "You make me sick. You're giving up the one person in the world who actually loves you." That was really harsh of me to say but I didn't care, I wanted her to feel as bad as Daphne would when I tell her that her mommy wasn't coming back.

I left her standing there as I got back inside of my car and driving back to my family that was waiting for me at home.

When I got back home it was nearly 7 and everyone was in the kitchen. John had made them all dinner and was at the counter watching them play with their food.

I walked straight into the kitchen, grabbed John by the back of his neck and planted a giant kiss on his lips. Toby and the girls 'Ew!'d, but John didn't seem to mind.

"What was that for?" He asked. I smiled as I ran my hand through his hair.

"For being here for me, for the kids." He kissed me again.

"I will always be here for you and the kids, no matter what." I smiled and we went to join all three of our children at the dinner table.

* * *

**So how'd you like it?**


	4. She Our Daughter, She's His Daughter

**I love that you guys love this story! I'm sorry that I haven't updated in like 3 months.**

* * *

**K P.O.V**

The next few days were hard, every morning and night Daphne cried for Regina and it broke my heart into a million pieces. After a few days though her cries were further and further apart, after day 12 she realized Regina wasn't coming back.

Bay and Toby had been getting along great with Daphne, we bought another bed and dresser set and we rearranged Bay's room so it was now Bay and Daphne's. We didn't put her in daycare yet seeing as she couldn't hear anyone and got frustrated easily, John and I had met up with dozens of doctors and they all said we had two choices; learn sign language or get her a cochlear implant. John was all for it, but I was a bit skeptical, they would have to cut a hole in her skull and even if she survived the surgery there was no telling what the long term side affects were.

Daphne, Bay and Toby were in sign language classes the next day. John and I took them too but when he wasn't working and I wasn't taking care of the kids. They were all doing it at their own pace, Toby was catching on quickly, but Bay and Daphne were having problems with some of the smaller words. I was at home while John was at work and the kids were at their sign language class, I had been looking up schools for Daphne for the past 3 hours. She was only 3 and that was way to young for her to have an interpreter following her around, I had only found one so far, but it was a high school and they didn't allow hearing children to attend.

"Honey?" I heard John's voice call. What was he doing home so early?

"In the kitchen!" I yelled out. Not a second later John was walking through the doorway of the kitchen and making his way towards me. He gave me a light kiss on the cheek and went to the fridge. "What are you doing home so early?"

"I remembered that I didn't need to be at the car wash every second of every hour." He said pulling the carton of milk out of the fridge and drinking from it. I knew he could feel me glaring a hole through his head. "Where are the kids?"

"At their sign language class." I informed him as I clicked on another link to yet another site. Why isn't there a button on Google to clear out the links I don't need? "Ms. Samson says that Bay and Daphne are getting the hang of some of the smaller word and they aced the alphabet test."

"What are you doing?" He asked sitting across from me.

"I'm trying to find a school for Daphne." I said. "I am not going to have some creepy, bald, middle aged man following my baby around daycare-"

"Google says more than 75% of interpreters are female." John cut in. I glared at him again.

"Anyway," I continued. "The only school I've been able to find for her is a high school that doesn't allow kids that can hear."

"Honey," John said taking my hand. "I know you have your heart set on the kids going to school together, but it doesn't seem like that's gonna happen."

"We could always donate some money to start a pilot program." I told him. I had been doing some research about that online and it would be good for kids to know sign language, or something like that.

"Honey we can't just trow money at the school and tell them to fix our problems."

"Why not? You did that when Toby peed on the little girl because he thought she was on fire." It was a while ago when Toby had turned four and we were going to a play at his school. It was a cute little play about Hanukkah and Toby played Jeremiah, a little boy learning about all the traditions or Hanukkah. There were six kids playing the candles on Menorah and their heads were painted and covered to look like real flames. Toby had thought that that one of them was on fire and peed on her to put it out.

"That was different." He defended. I cocked an eyebrow, waiting for him to explain. "Okay, so it's not so different, but aren't there an other schools that take deaf and hearing kids?"

"Not in Virginia." I told him. "And I really don't want to move just so my child can go to school." I said. "Plus, what about your carwashes? Bay and Toby's friends and-"

"What if Daphne suddenly decides that she wants Regina back?" He guessed. I sighed and nodded. That question had been on my mind since John and I started the process of adopting Daphne last week.

"What if she does?" I asked. "What if she wants to be with Regina because she's the only person in this world that knows about the first 3 years of her life?" John held my hand to his lips.

"Kathryn." He said. "Since we started the adoption process, you haven't called Daphne by her name once." He informed me. "It's always baby, my child, my baby, sweetheart and anything along those lines. Yeah and maybe one day she will want to go talk to Regina because as much as we hate it she is the only one who knows about those three years.

But you have to remember that although Regina had her for three years, we're gonna have her for the rest of her life. When her first tooth falls out, her first fight with her best friend, her sweet 16, her first heartbreak and when she goes off to college. Not to mention graduation, her wedding day and day she has her first child. We're going to be there for that, not Regina. So no worries. "I sighed.

"You always have an answer to everything don't you?" I asked and he smiled back at me.

"Not everything."

* * *

The next Thursday when John had taken the kids to the park I pitched my idea to the school board.

It took a bit of persuading, but in the end they all agreed that the pilot program and sign language classes could be great for the school. I think they were just happy that CNN called and wanted to do a story on the school once they heard about what they were doing.

They got a few teachers the next week and required the all staff in the school to learn sign language in order to keep their jobs. The ones who couldn't catch on as fast got interpreters to help out in the class rooms. Daphne was in school by September and was legally a member of our family a week later, but now I had other worries.

I had been trying to get in touch with Regina for the past 3 weeks. I know I said I didn't want her around Daphne, but this time it wasn't for her, it was for Bay.  
I needed to know what to expect from her, like in health issues. Bay had been sick for the past week and I was getting paranoid over it. I wanted to ask Regina for her medical files, I needed to know if Bay had any genetic disorders or diseases and I also need to know about her biological father.

I could hope and wish as much as I wanted, but I knew that one day John and I were going to have to sit all the kids down and tell them about Regina. Not any time soon, but when they were older and could handle it. When I did tell them, I didn't want to tell Bay that she was just the daughter of an alcoholic, there had to be more than that. I had basically been on a witch hunt for her biological father.

After 2 weeks I had no luck and John's mother was coming over this week and I didn't need the stress of having everything perfect for her visit and finding Bay's biological father. So I was about to give up and leave it be.

That is, until I got that call.


End file.
